the flower between the valleys of the end
by Drostste7
Summary: A collection of short stories on the childhood of Mikoto and Kushina and the romance that bloomed between Minato and Kushina, and Mikoto and Fugaku.
1. Chapter 1

UPDATED: 3/22/2020

God I know I should really be updating J 3:16, but this story just kept attacking me in my sleep so I had no choice, I swear.

* * *

Yes, yes, I know I said I won't work on a story other than J 3:16. BUT in my defense, this story is technically the prequel (?) of J 3:16, so I think I can be forgiven (I think?). It's also just a collection of drabbles and techhhhnically not a story.

I just absolutely adore the relationsihp between Kushina and Mikoto and think they deserve a story of their own. Anyhoo, this is how I imagine how they first met.

* * *

The first time they meet is sporadic.

The first time they meet, they resonate on the same wavelength.

The first time they meet, they are naive.

Mikoto is sore and angry. The rage that burns in her gut flares up her spine, squelches in her stomach and triggers the tensing of her stomach. It stands in stark comparison to the maturing bud that is meant to bloom into a beautiful Uchiha woman, nipped to decorate the room. It's what directs her arms when she throws kunai with staggering accuracy and fills her lungs to expel the Great Fireball Technique, one strong enough to scorch the tips of the glass blades on the opposite of the river bank. She's everything her father wants in his sons and more.

Unfortunately, her father's generation is old enough to either have lived through the Warring States prior to Konoha's founding themselves or to have heard enough about it to justify their conservative beliefs. Thus, she has to be _poised_ and _sweet_ and _soft_ , ready to obey her father and brother and to comfort the man who will be her husband. And thus, her father refuses to teach her more A-rank jutsus, even though she's already a genin. Because she is a girl and not a boy like her brother.

Instead of screaming in frustration, she glares at a particularly ugly rock and kicks it hard. Immediately, she regrets it and glances around to see if anyone witnessed what would have brought shame upon the Uchiha Clan (she hates this part of her too, the one that just can't find a way to escape the traditional lessons ingrained in her mind since birth). Before she can release a sigh of relief, there's an audible yelp from the bushes to her right. A small body jerks out of them and rolls on the ground, clutching her head with a loud groan. The girl's burning red hair is tangled with branches, and the bright violet eyes that shine behind thick strands of mud-stained hair glare at her. Mikoto stares at the body in alarm.

"That hurts!" the girl cries, rubbing at a red spot on her head that's beginning to swell. "Why'd ya have to do that?!"

Mikoto hurries over to the girl's side and leans down to offer a hand. "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

The girl swats her hand away and jumps to her feet, swirling around to stick her tongue out at Mikoto. "That wasn't very nice!"

Mikoto narrows her eyes. She was _trying_ to be nice. "Maybe you shouldn't have been in the bushes in the first place. What were you doing there anyways?"

(A part of her fumes at how she sounds just like her brother).

The red-haired girl's face flushes as red as her hair. "People can be in bushes if they want to, 'ttebane!" With that, she spins on her heels and dashes away, leaving behind puffs of dust.

Mikoto grits her teeth, her jaw aching from the strain. She doesn't deserve to be treated so rudely by _anyone_ when she hasn't done anything wrong, especially by someone she's never even met before. But before she turns back to start training, a ray of light reflects off of something small from a few feet away from the bushes, hidden underneath the roots of another bush not far from where the other girl had been crawling in. Mikoto has to drop onto her knees and stick her arm far underneath before she manages to grab hold of it with a grunt. When she rises to her feet and peers at her discovery, she realizes it's a brush, not unlike the one she uses for her calligraphy lessons. She notes it's of much higher quality than hers, though. Its thistles are thick and soft, no doubt chosen with careful thought. Engraved on the side is _Uzumaki Kushina_ , an unfamiliar name, which is unusual; she, like her siblings, keeps herself updated on all the big and small clans in Konoha.

She tucks it into her shirt. Whoever this Uzumaki is won't be hard to find. After all, she knows for a fact that there's literally no one else who has this name.

(She's _not_ like her brother. She doesn't think she's above everyone else, and she's going to be polite for the sake of being a good person)

The first time they meet is sporadic.

The first time they meet, they are naive.

The first time they meet, they are completely unaware of what's to follow.


	2. Chapter 2

UPDATED: 3/22/2020

* * *

Kushina lets her eyes roam from the man's red face flushed in rage to her handiwork and tunes out her sensei's rant. She doesn't have to pay attention to him to know he's upset she almost ignited the entire training ground. Again. For the fifth time. He keeps saying he doesn't get why she keeps doing "stupid things that place everyone else in danger." Well, he's going to stay not knowing, because she's not going to bother explaining Uzushio's games and training anymore, because there's really no point. These Konoha senseis are so stubborn that what's best is forcing everyone into a boxed prison and teaching them stupid things, which apparently some idiot called Tobirama decided was The Best Idea and since he was _so_ smart and everyone thinks he was always right, they just do his Best Ideas. She scoffs everytime she thinks about it. In Uzushio, doing something as stupid as mentally calculating the trajectory of kunai before throwing it is giving someone like Ena-nee enough time to beat the crap out of you (and Ena-nee is one of the slowest shinobi Eri knows).

Konoha's kids are no better than the adults. They're _so_ much more boring than her friends back home. They're always obsessed with impressing their parents and their senseis and "representing their clan" or whatever. They all want to be the same but also be the best _while_ being the same. It doesn't sound like it makes sense at first, but it actually does when it's about these kids. The only way you're allowed to be different is to be the best. Any other kind of different is bad.

(And they made sure she knew it).

Kushina scowls when some of the kids who haven't left yet snicker and call her "the wild tomato."

"Uzumaki-san! Are you listening to me?" Sugi-sensei shouts.

She tightens her fist and glares back. "I don't need to pay attention when you just say the same thing again and again, 'ttebane! I told you, I knew what I was doing!"

Sugi-sensei gives her the same look everyone else in Konoha does. "It seems," he draws out the words slowly. "Uzushio doesn't educate their children properly."

Kushina doesn't hold herself back from stomping on the sensei's foot. "Don't talk about my home like that!"

Before she can be reprimanded any further, she dashes under her sensei's long arm and beyond his reach. In a few quick strides, she quickly snatches her bag from the ground and sprints away from the Academy grounds, farther and farther away from the sensei's screech and the children's condescending glares, as if the burning rage that boils under her skin will evaporate with every step she takes.

They all see her as a stupid foreigner who doesn't belong. But it's not like she ever _wanted_ to come here in the first place. She _said_ she wanted to stay, that she'd train with Daiichi-sensei every single day if that'd let her stay, that she'd even live in that empty, cold house that was no longer a home.

(The house that echoes wretched loneliness as it weeps with her)

(The house that engulfs her)

She jumps over a fence and continues her run east, speeding up to try and outrun her shadow that now stretches in front of her. She stops only when she reaches the same river she's been visiting for the past couple days, her chest rising and falling in rhythm with the pounding beats of her heart. This is one of the few rivers in Konoha, which has way too many trees and not enough rivers or lakes or oceans. The scream that's been itching the back of her throat tears past her lips, and she likes the way it feels so she strains her throat as she puts more force into it as if it's a balloon she can blow long enough to reach the other end of the river. When she's done, her throat stings in pain, but she feels a lot better.

A sniffle slips past her, so she clenches her eyes shut and thrusts the knuckles of her fist into them. The pain helps keep the tears back.

(She promised her Uzukage she'd be strong

But she wants to go home)

Once she's sure the tears are gone, she gives her eyeballs a good rub and realizes from glancing around that she's at the same spot she always ends up at.

She walks along the bay, eyes half heartedly scanning the area. She's wiggled through all of the bushes here so many times she can probably guess how many leaves each of them has. She's swum from the top of the river to the bottom enough times that she knows its every crack and crevice. But she still can't find her brush. A part of her almost wants to give up, but the other part will never stop looking for it. Daiichi-sensei himself carved it out of thick, rich oak, just like the one he owned. She's always wanted one just like his and made sure he knew it by whining everyday, even if it meant he whacked the back of her head for being annoying each time, so when he gave one to her right before she left Uzushio, she was super excited.

But of _course_ she had to lose it like the scatter brained idiot she was. In her defense, she had been trying to make a really important seal and chose to be around the river because it was the only place she felt safe and calm enough to make her seals. She just got too excited and stayed up for too long, so her tired butt didn't realize she'd dropped the brush and went back home without it.

Kushina watches the river's current ripple and lets out another dramatic sigh.

"Hello," a voice calls out, and Kushina jumps and jerks her head up.

It's the same girl from the day before with dirt coal eyes that don't match her pretty black hair that glistens like silk. Unlike before, though, the girl doesn't have a look like she's constipated.

Before Kushina can say anything smart, the girl reaches into her pocket and holds out something in her palm. "Is this yours?"

Kushina would recognize that brush anywhere. She scrambles forward to snatch it from the girl's hand and rolls it around to check for any damages, which she's surprised to find none (in fact, it sparkles more than it used to, like someone has taken good care of it). "Yeah! Where'd ya find it?"

The girl watches her with an eerily calm expression. "It was on the ground near where I found you last time."

"Oh," Kushina bites her lips. She originally thought the girl was just like all the other Konoha kids who love to annoy her, but maybe she was wrong. "Thanks." When it doesn't look like the girl is convinced, Kushina adds, "You have a hard kick."

The girl looks at her strangely.

Kushina clears her throat, "The rock. You kicked it really hard." She watches in fascination as the tips of the girl's ears burn red even as she keeps her poker face on. "I— I'm… I'm sorry, okay? I didn't know you were there."

Kushina quirks an eyebrow. "It's not a bad thing you have a hard kick. I don't know if this is another one of those Konoha things, but in Uzushio, people _want_ to have good kicks."

The girl gives her the exact same strange look from before, until she breaks it with a small smile. "I think the same. You're Uzumaki Kushina, right? I'm Uchiha Mikoto." Mikoto glances at her bag that Kushina's gripping in her right hand. "Can I ask what are you doing here? Do you have business with the Uchiha Clan?"

"Huh?" Kushina frowns. "What do you mean?"

Mikoto looks like she hesitates for a split second before she sits cross-legged on the ground. "This is the Naka River. It's not really the Uchiha's river, but we like to think of it as ours. Non-Uchihas usually don't come here."

"I didn't know that." Kushina follows the girl's lead and sits down as well. "I just like it here 'cause… it's the closest I'm gonna get to Uzushio."

"Ah, right," Mikoto peers at her from the corner of her eye. "You're Mito-sama's relative, aren't you?"

"How'd ya know?" Kushina startles.

Mikoto laughs, and it sounds nice. "I think everyone knows about you."

"Because I'm loud?" Kushina grumbles.

"Because you're a little different," Mikoto says like it's not a bad thing. "You're not like the others."

"Yeah, well," Kushina pulls her knees closer to her and rests her chin on them. "I don't want to be, because then I'm not _me_." Her eyes narrow into a glare. "I don't even get why this is a problem! You'd never be in trouble for being different back home, _especially_ for 'not being elegant enough.' Even okaa-chan thinks— " The corner of her eyes hardens as she finishes, "... Even okaa-chan thought that was stupid." She starts to feel the same heaviness from weeks ago fill her lungs, so she forces her eyes shut again.

(No, not again. Not now. Not when she's not alone)

"Uzushio doesn't teach you to be elegant?"

Kushina blinks and turns to look at Mikoto, who's looking out at the river and most definitely not at Kushina. Then she remembers what Mikoto just said and dry heaves. "Oh god, no. Never. Ever."

"Oh. Mito-sama is so graceful that I thought everyone at Uzushio would be like that."

"Nope," Kushina pops the word. "Mito-sama is kinda unique. In Uzushio, you just have to not hurt your teammates and you're good. You also have to be pretty good at fuuinjutsu, but that's something everyone works hard at to become good at. "

"Fuuinjutsu?"

"Like seals and stuff!" Kushina rummages through her bag and drops a bundle of paper onto Mikoto's lap. "Like these! Oh, be careful, that one's a bomb."

At that, Mikoto drew the seal in her hand away from her person. "That's actually really cool."

"Right?!" Kushina bounces up onto her feet. "You're the only person from Konoha who thinks that, 'ttebane!"

"You know," Mikoto's lips tugged into a small smile. "I think we can get along quite well."

Kushina blinks. Maybe it's because of the light reflecting on the flowing river water, but the raven-haired girl's eyes twinkle like the circle of sunlight that rides Uzushio's waves, and Kushina realizes Mikoto's eyes aren't _coal_ black— they're midnight blue, like the rare pearls her cousins would collect to string into a necklace.

She grins. "I think so too."

* * *

I do think Kushina would have been unfairly ostracized. Based on the timeline, Konoha is still a fairly young village that remains fragmented. If the people of Konoha don't like each other, I can only imagine how they would react to someone like Kushina, who comes from an outlandish clan with a culture so foreign they can't wrap their minds around it.

I also think Kushina just doesn't see that the emphasis on assimilation is very much political in intention. The village is meant to be a small nation, but a nation can't properly function if its people see no reason to invest in its well being. For the villagers to _want_ Konoha, and not only their clan/family, to strive, they have to extend their social formation beyond the family to include Konoha, thereby seeing themselves as not just members of a nuclear family/clan, but also as citizens of Konoha. At the moment, this particular identity doesn't exist even on a conceptual level, much less in practice. But one way it can be created is, of course, by forming a sense of unity between the villagers, one that can only exist through the assumption that they share a similarity that is taken for granted. Konoha (I'm honestly thinking Tobirama) is trying to artificially create this similarity by, well, advocating similarity to the younger generation. The drawback of this is the malicious ostracization of a small number of people who either refuse to or cannot adhere to the universalized identity, as we can see is the case with Kushina.

Oops I went on a rant.


	3. Chapter 3

I offer this chapter as an offering. May it pacify those who've been waiting for an update for J 3:16. I'm working on it, I swear.

If you see an error, please let me know! It's a little difficult to figure out when, specifically, each character graduates from the Academy. I use Seelentau's timeline on the Naruto wiki, which is the most detailed timeline I've been able to find online, but alas, it can't share information that Kishimoto himself didn't include in the story.

* * *

For as long as he can remember, Namikaze Minato has always known he was different. He's known it like how he's always known he'll become a shinobi. Things just come a lot more easily for him than they seem to for other kids. What he reads, he can memorize verbatim. What he's taught, he understands without difficulty. What he wants, he can get through sufficient planning and either pure logic or simple reasoning that appeals to one's pathos. In all honesty, there isn't much that he struggles with, whether that be economics (like balancing the Orphanage's budget to ensure they can pay the bills and still have enough left to feed hungry mouths and pay employees) or psychology (understanding the motives of an individual founded on personal philosophy or interest).

He knows the adults around him know, too. He figures that knowledge must be what, for them, justifies placing more responsibilities and expectations on him than are usually appropriate for kids his age. Maybe that's why he's never gotten to be a child. But he doesn't mind it, really. If anything, he appreciates the kind of respect and autonomy he's given. So it never comes as a surprise when the Hokage himself meets with Minato to "highly encourage" him to join the Academy at the tender age of four.

He watches the Sandaime's surprise when Minato says he doesn't want to enter the Academy just yet with amusement. Of course, Minato has always planned on becoming a shinobi to protect his home. In fact, he wants to become the Hokage: he thinks a lot of improvements can be made with the village's administration, starting with a revision in the village's funding of public services like the Orphanage. (And if this desire is also fueled by his enjoyment of others' respect for him, well… Nobody other than he himself has to know that). But regardless, Hokage-sama's suggestion comes during a period of severe understaffing of the Orphanage, which he wants keep afloat. So in reality, it shouldn't come as a surprise that he's willing to remain a civilian for a couple more years in order to support the institution. Besides, he's always liked taking care of others (especially the younger ones), so he doesn't feel like he's missing out on much when he enters the academy not long after his ninth birthday.

It's when Minato meets the new student from Uzushiogakure that, for the first time, he is actively glad he joined the Academy when he did.

The first part of Uzumaki Kushina that he finds himself enraptured by is her hair: it's the same deep ruby of golden red roses, his favorite flowers. Next are her eyes: they remind him of the color of the open sky when it begins to veil itself with darkness after the sun has set. Then, of course, is her personality. When she exclaims, "I'm Uzumaki Kushina, 'ttebane!" and follows it up with, "I'm going to be the first female Hokage of this village!", Minato finds himself gawking at her in what might be awe. Or maybe it's surprise. Or fascination.

When the others begin laughing at her, Minato stands up to show his solidarity with her admirable goal. "I also want to become the Hokage, respected by all the villagers." He crinkles his eyes as he smiles to communicate his genuine respect for her.

It seems to have the opposite effect as she glares at him.

'O—kay, maybe I need a different approach,' he thinks to himself as she whips away with a 'hmph.'

For the first time in his life, Minato has no idea what to do. People usually _like_ it when he's kind to them or takes their side. But Kushina seems to think all the kind things he does and says are out of pity for her, and she tells him as such. After several days of trying and failing to become her friend, he finally realizes that she's registered him as a bothersome and meddlesome rival because of what he'd done on the first day. He regrets what he did from the bottom of his heart (it's not the first time he's ever regretted a past action or made a mistake, but he's always been able to fix it so that everyone involved ends up happy). Once Minato realizes the high likelihood that every one of his moves will count as mistakes when it comes to Kushina, he becomes hesitant to interact with her even after he runs through all the tactics he can possibly think of, along with more than a dozen back-up plans for the doubtless rejection that would follow.

Everyday, he watches in discomfort as his classmates continue to bully her for her unusual hair. Generally, the harassment remains verbal as they taunt her and call her a tomato. Personally, he doesn't see any resemblance of a tomato in Kushina. (He almost feels smug when he thinks about how they'll regret their actions like _he_ has once Kushina grows out of her baby fat). Minato really wants to help Kushina, but he can't think of a way to do so without indirectly providing the bullies more material to ridicule Kushina with. He can very easily see them framing her as a "weak, useless princess who needs a prince to save her," and he is quite confident that'll forever seal Kushina's impression of him as a source of constant perturbation forever. Which he would like to avoid. Because… Well… he wants to be her friend. He thinks she's cool.

One day, the bullying becomes physical, and Minato tenses in his seat as one of the boys (Kodama, he thinks) snatches a strand of Kushina's hair and wrenches it. Before he can stalk over to help her, Kushina grips Kodama's wrist hard enough for him to forfeit his grip on her hair.

"For your information, I hate tomatoes too!" she yells.

Ikeda, one of the other bullies, reaches out to stop her, but Kushina spins behind Kodama and jerks his arm with her, holding it against his back. She kicks the back of his knees and uses the momentum to roll on top of him and under Kenzo's reach. She jumps to her feet in a flash and tackles Ikeda onto the floor, getting in a good, solid punch in his face, even as his flailing arms scratch her face. Ikeda grabs the back of her shirt and drags her off of his friend and onto the floor. But Kushian doesn't stop. She reaches up behind her and digs her nails into Ikeda's forearms hard enough to draw blood. He yelps and releases her shirt, but she doesn't let go of Kodama's arm, using him to draw herself onto her feet. And then she kicks him between his legs.

"You're all pathetic, 'ttebane," she breathes heavily, wiping the corner of her mouth, where one of Ikeda's scratches managed to reach. "I've seen babies fight better than you!"

Minato watches the boys on the ground roll as they groan in pain with astonishment, and he can't hold back his laughter. Those boys really got what they were asking for.

"What are you laughing at?" Kushina snaps, waving her fists at him as if she's ready for Round Two.

Minato promptly swirls around to face the front, because he's trying to _reduce_ her hostility towards him, not increase it, but he can't help peeking at her from the corner of his eye. She looms over the boys with her arms crossed and gives a long speech about what other forms of violence she'll inflict on them the next time they dare touch her again. And she promises a rather significant amount of pain.

When Kunitoshi-sensei returns, he pales at the state of the boys and punishes her with cleaning duty for two weeks. In response, Kushina (rightfully) tries to defend her actions, but he interrupts her and clearly refuses to see the incident from her point of view. 'Well that's awfully unfair,' Minato frowns.

Following that line of logic, he takes extra time and care to pack his belongings when the day ends, and tells Atsushi to head back without him. Once everyone leaves the classroom, Minato slowly descends down the stairs towards Kunitoshi-sensei's desk.

"Yes, Namikaze-kun?" His sensei doesn't look up as he grades the math worksheets that were due today. His eyes scan the paper as fast as his pen moves to mark the answers.

Before Minato can respond, someone slams open the classroom window, rattling the glass, and jumps into the room to land in a crouch. The girl rises, her gaze sharp as they sweep around the room before settling on the two of them. Minato recognizes her from one of the photos that hang on what essentially is a kind of "Wall of Fame," lined with pictures of students who excelled during their years at the Academy. (Minato has opinions about that wall. On the one hand, he understands that the wall exists to motivate students to work hard, and, at the same time, obliquely erase clan-based conflict for the ultimate prestige by presenting an individual-focused reward.

On the other, he thinks it's especially cruel to non-clan or average students who, in reality, will never be able to achieve this goal. It also seems like a great source of intel on young shinobi with a lot of potential that should be taken out by foreign shinobi before they could mature into a real threat.

Again, he has things he wants to change once he becomes Hokage.)

Kunitoshi-sensei finally looks up to glance at the genin and then at Minato, and raises a brow.

"Um," Minato side-glances at the girl, but she makes no move to leave. 'Well, it's not like I need to hide this,' he shrugs to himself and faces his sensei again. "About what happened in class today. Uzumaki-san was right. The group of boys have been harassing her for a very long time."

When his sensei's brows tug themselves into a deep frown, Minato hastily adds, "They initiated the fight, and Uzumaki-san reacted in self-defense."

In response, Kunitoshi-sensei lets out a heavy sigh as he rubs his temples hard enough that to turn the circular tracing of flesh burning red. "I see. Thank you for informing me of this. However, Uzumaki-san has _also_ been disrupting classes with her… explosive seals despite multiple warnings, so a punishment was already going to be put in place for her." Before Minato can argue with that logic (or lack thereof), his sensei raises a hand. "Nonetheless, it is clear that I have made the wrong judgement. I will similarly penalize the boys and apologize to Uzumaki-san. I will also reduce her punishment to a week." Kunitoshi-sensei narrows his eyes as if he's remembering something intensely unpleasant. "She destroyed _half_ of the Academy's training grounds in the past _week_."

Minato winces, and from his peripheral, he sees the genin who's been pretending to not listen in on the conversation cringe. When his sensei puts it that way… A week doesn't seem so bad. Minato nods in satisfaction and leaves the room to head back home, knowing Kushina will most likely never know what he did today, but still feeling relatively content at having helped her.

With his back turned, he misses the genin stare at him through hooded lids and cautious eyes.

* * *

Maybe it's just me, but I always imagined Minato as an analytical man who knows exactly how smart he is, and sees it as a given fact that he's not necessarily prideful about. Maybe it's because he strikes me as the kind of fuuinjutsu master that relies heavily on logic and math, unlike Kushina and Naruto who use their instinct (and are talented in their own right).

He's still a cinnamon bun, but only when it comes to Kushina (?) Y'know, like when you're around someone you really like and suddenly you lose all ability to function like a normal, competent human being?

Do I think he's socially awkward? Ehh. To the minimum extent possible. I honestly think it would've been pretty difficult for him to have made friends with so many people and become Hokage without being able to pick up on subtle social cues and respond appropriately. The small bit of social awkwardness he _does_ have can definitely pass as charming, but only because it pertains to Kushina. In general, he seems like the kind of guy that everyone wants to be best friends with because he's kind, considerate, and cool, but who draws a distinct line between himself and others to maintain a level of privacy and social distance.


End file.
